"They hit me with their bikes, knocked my
sweater off, and when I looked back they were laughing at me," Johnson,
20, said in court today. "Nobody stopped to apologize. Not once."

That moment of anger led to a state prison sentence of three to seven years for Johnson, who was 19 at the time of the May 16 shooting.

"I never wanted anything to happen like this, and I know I made a mistake," said Johnson, of the 700 block of West Gordon Street. "I'm not a career criminal. I'm not a bad guy. But I did something incredibly bad."

His
attorney, John Waldron, tried to seek leniency before Lehigh County Judge Maria Dantos, noting Johnson has no criminal history except two minor citations, and had plans to attend college
before his arrest.

"In high school, he was on the debate team and
chess club," Waldron said. "He has potential. He has a future. He's
articulate and intelligent."

But Dantos noted the seriousness of
the crime, and said while Johnson had no major criminal offenses before,
"sometimes you jump in in a big way."

"It seemed like things
were going well for you," Dantos said. "I hope you'll be able to get
back to that when you're down serving your consequences."

But
one of the bicyclists told police the bullet struck a light pole that
was less than five feet away from them, Van Natten said.

Police could not gather any physical evidence to determine whether the pole was struck by a bullet, he said.

Johnson
was originally charged with attempted homicide, but that charge was
dropped after he pleaded last month to two counts of reckless
endangerment and one count each of carrying a firearm without a license
and receiving stolen property.

Johnson shook his head and
whispered something to a woman in the audience as he was escorted from
the courtroom. The woman leaned over and cried. Nobody spoke on
Johnson's behalf during the sentencing hearing.